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Home > Vol 30, No 1 (2010) > Birge

No Life Lessons Here: Comics, Autism, and EmpatheticScholarship

Sarah BirgePennsylvania State UniversityE-mail: seb303@psu.edu

Keywords:

autism, comics, representation, cognitive disability, empathy

Abstract

Comics, a relatively understudied medium for representations of disability,have enormous potential for providing important critical perspectives indisability studies. This article examines two recent comics that portrayindividuals with autism: The Ride Together by Paul and Judy Karasik andCircling Normal, a compilation of the comic strip Clear Blue Water by KarenMontague-Reyes. I argue that these comics' unique narrative geometriesmake them ideally suited for depicting cognitive disabilities in the nuancedcontext of embodied life. Through their reworking of stereotypes and theirunique portrayals of autism, Circling Normal and The Ride Togetherdemonstrate the power of comics to rewrite (and redraw) traditional scriptsof cognitive disability and break the confining cultural framework throughwhich some people are seen and others overlooked.

"We haven't even begun to explore what comics are capable of, and I wantthat fact on an emotional level to be received by my readers….Because wedo have a tendency to assume that the world as we see it…is pretty muchthe only world there is."

Scott McCloud1

Introduction

In the recent renewal of interest in writing comics and graphic novels, a number ofnew works have included representations of disability. From a storyline aboutdisabled teenager Shannon Lake in the popular syndicated strip For Better or ForWorse2 to the wheelchair-bound protagonist of the web comic dizABLED,3 comicsare literally making visible the stories of individuals and groups who have largelybeen excluded from our social and political narratives. The unique forms of comicsare especially promising for representing the experiences of people with cognitivedisabilities, who often find the traditional linear narrative of the autonomous subjectdifficult, if not impossible, to construct and communicate. Because this traditionalnarrative format is often seen as an essential component of constructing one'sselfhood, difficulties in cognition or communication often lead to the perpetuation ofstereotypes about the loss or lack of intelligence and personhood in those without"normal" brain function. These factors make issues of representation that much

No life lessons here: Comics, autism, and empathetic scholarshipNo life lessons here: Comics, autism, and empathetic scholarship

"normal" brain function. These factors make issues of representation that muchmore important for people with neurological differences whose experiences maynot best be expressed using traditional narrative forms.

Although a visual medium might not initially seem most appropriate forrepresentations of disabilities that are often termed "invisible" (because they cannotimmediately be read by looking at a person), comics are able to represent aspectsof disability that text alone cannot, such as the crucial importance of embodiment inthe lived experiences of people with disabilities. The physical body cannot beisolated in the attempt to understand and include people with disabilities in everyaspect of society, nor can the individual be separated from their numerousattachments and relationships in the world. Comics' ability to represent complexinteractions of emotions, thoughts, movements, and social relationships creates apromising opportunity for remedying the inadequacy of many contemporaryrepresentations of cognitive disability. In this study I will focus on representations ofAutism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) by examining two comics that portray families'experiences with young children who are diagnosed with autism: The RideTogether by Paul and Judy Karasik and Circling Normal, a compilation of the comicstrip Clear Blue Water by Karen Montague-Reyes. 4 By outlining innovativenarrative geometries of text and image that can more flexibly represent both theembodied and social experiences of people with autism, I will demonstrate thatcomics have a crucial role to play in the field of disability studies as scholarsattempt to become more inclusive in their considerations of cognitive disabilities.

Disability Studies and the Emphasis on the Physical

An important area of disability studies scholarship is the ongoing discussion overhow to conceptualize and describe disability. The historical (and still common)understanding of disability describes it as a medical condition, which implies thatdisabilities can (and should) be treated if possible. As disability scholar and activistSimi Linton describes, "the medicalization of disability casts human variation asdeviance from the norm, as pathological condition, as deficit, and, significantly, asan individual burden and personal tragedy" (11). The growing field of disabilitystudies largely rejects the dominance of this medical model and instead considersdisability within a social-constructionist framework. Under the social model, aphysical or cognitive impairment only becomes a disability when society fails tofully include the person, who may face obstacles such as physical barriers,prejudice, or exclusion from social justice.

The current social model cannot fully account for all aspects of disability, however.Despite promising developments in recent years such as alterations to the builtenvironment resulting in increased accessibility, our society still frequentlyexcludes and stigmatizes disability. In particular, the social model does not provideadequate understanding of cognitive disabilities, which do not disappear with thealteration of the disabled person's environment (though they often do become lesslimiting when cultural perceptions are altered). As Mark Osteen observes in Autismand Representation, disability scholars have perhaps overemphasized the socialconstruction of disability, leading to a lack of studies of cognitive disability in thefield. The majority of scholarship on disability thus far has focused on physicaldisabilities, a fact Osteen links to several possible factors: the strong and importantties of disability studies with disability activism, which has concentrated onincreasing accommodations such as curb cuts, ramps, and accessible architecture;the difficulty of fitting current theories of representation to people with "invisible"disabilities; or the fact that people with cognitive disabilities often have difficultycommunicating, which makes assessment of abilities difficult and advocacy bynondisabled caregivers necessary (5-6).

Because of the lack of perspectives on cognitive disabilities (and autism inparticular) in the disability studies field, Osteen calls for more "empatheticscholarship," which entails both working on representations of autism in dialogue

scholarship," which entails both working on representations of autism in dialoguewith autistic persons and combining rigorous scholarship with the experientialknowledge non-autistic writers have gained as family members and friends ofautistic persons (8). Following philosopher Martha Nussbaum's description ofempathy as the "imaginative reconstruction of another's experience, without anyparticular evaluation of that experience," Osteen argues that most popularrepresentations of people with autism are not truly empathetic, but insteadreinforce neurotypical experiences (for example, by placing value on "overcoming"autism), thereby silencing rather than valuing the autistic perspective (8).

Autism in Comics: Circling Normal and The Ride Together

Comics are a prime medium for the type of empathetic scholarship Osteendescribes, particularly for studies of cognitive disabilities such as autism. Graphicartist and comics scholar Scott McCloud believes that part of the value of comicslies in their ability to bridge minds, to connect people despite our many differences.Elements of comics such as frame size, layout, and a wide range of pictorial stylescan be used to invite identification and engagement as the reader visualizes thethoughts of another. As McCloud observes, "We all live in a state of profoundisolation. No other human being can ever know what it's like to be you from theinside....The wall of ignorance that prevents so many human beings from seeingeach other clearly can only be breached by communication" (194, 198). As apopular form that is both entertaining and widely accessible, comics can help us tobreach the "wall of ignorance" that damaging stereotypes build up around peoplewith autism.

Although The Ride Together is marketed as a memoir and Clear Blue Water is not,both forms of graphic art demonstrate the type of empathetic representationOsteen seeks: Paul and Judy Karasik describe their experience of growing up withtheir autistic brother David, and Karen Montague-Reyes explains in an interviewthat she has loosely based her strips about Seth on her life with her autistic son,Sawyer. These authors take care to create realistic representations of autism thatreflect their lived experiences. They use the medium of the comic strip to bring theircharacters to life, deploying images to complement the textual narratives that maynot always be readily available to people with autism. The specifics of the formallow for a range of representations of specific features of autism: for example, theoverwhelming chaos of intensified or unfiltered sensory inputs can be displayedwith glaring colors, overlapping borders, and jagged lines; they can be describedtextually, through clinical or parental voices; and they can also be describedthrough the gestures, embodied responses, or redirections of focus that the personwith autism might employ to cope with their environments.

One of the many interesting features of Circling Normal is its ability to depict thecomplicated and communal experience of disability as shared by an entire family.Circling Normal follows the experiences of a multiracial American family whose sonSeth is diagnosed with autism at the age of two. As she explains in an interview,Montague-Reyes wants to show that a family that was funny and happy beforelearning that their child has autism can still be funny and happy afterwards: autismalone does not define them ("New Cartoon Strip"). Portraying autism as an entirefamily's experience moves away from the oversimplified perspective of disability aseither a solely medical issue that should be cured or a socially constructedphenomenon with little biological basis. Circling Normal challenges these disabilitystereotypes, portraying Seth more realistically as a complex human being withvarious abilities as well as weaknesses. Seth's family's narratives also resisttraditional depictions, representing disability neither as a blessing to inspire themnor as a medical condition to be cured. Instead, the family struggles to sort throughthe cultural narratives of disability available to them, seeking their own definitionsof meaning and personhood for Seth. The comic demonstrates that the experienceof autism is not the individual burden that Linton describes; it is also reflected inand influenced by the family members and other individuals with whom the autistic

and influenced by the family members and other individuals with whom the autisticperson interacts.

The potential for comics to demonstrate intense emotional experiences producedby Seth's autism can be seen in an early Clear Blue Water strip that shows Seth'sparents receiving Seth's initial test results (they take him to the doctor because ofunusual behavior such as hand-flapping, lack of speech, and extreme agitation)(Fig. 1). In the four frames of this comic strip, we not only read Eve and Manny'sverbal responses to the news that the tests are normal, we are able to see theirphysical and emotional responses as well. Joy is evident upon their faces, and theysing and dance in relief at the news. However, for a brief moment (or an extendedone, depending on how long we study the third frame), we as readers are alloweda more complicated glimpse into Eve and Manny's emotions as they ask eachother, "But if he's so normal, why doesn't he talk?...and why is he licking thecouch?" Scott McCloud describes the depiction of temporally disparate moments ina single sequence as a "landscape of time" upon which viewers can gaze. Therelationship between time and space in comics is not simple, as we see in this strip— the last frame of celebration is wider than the third frame, a technique thattypically creates an extended moment in the rhythm of our reading experience.However, here the shorter third frame draws our attention as it indicates adisruption in Eve and Manny's experience — their celebrations are interrupted by amoment of doubt about the diagnosis. Though the extended action of the last frameattempts to assuage this disturbance, it cannot replace it. Each moment remainsstatic, immune to the inconsistencies of memory, and Eve and Manny's fears arepermanently drawn in tension with the joyful behavior through which they attemptto repress their anxieties.

Figure 1. "That was Dr. Ross with Seth's Test Results." Karen Montague-Reyes,Circling Normal (Kansas City: Universal Press Syndicate, 2007): 13.

The following strip demonstrates even more visual and emotional density. Whilethe doctor tells her that early intervention will improve Seth's "long-term outcome,"Eve is isolated by her inability to see beyond the normative roles of football player,college graduate, husband, and father that dominate her expectations for her child(Fig. 2). Montague-Reyes compacts the entire narrative of Seth's life as Eveimagines it to a single thought bubble, a visual story that for the reader is almostsimultaneously written and erased as the dream-bubble pops above Eve's head ina starry "POOF." Although anxiety over an unknown future overwhelms the moodof the scene, the frame also represents the first moment in which Eve begins todevelop her expectations for Seth by connecting with him, rather than scripting hislife in advance based on cultural dictates for measuring human value.

Figure 2. "Aggressive early intervention will really help Seth's long-term outcome."Ibid. p. 16.

Ibid. p. 16.

An important aspect of the representation of cognitive disability in comics is whatWill Eisner calls "the non-verbal 'language' of sequential art" (44). In an absorbingstrip composed of entirely silent frames, Montague-Reyes depicts the emotionalimpact of the diagnosis on each member of Seth's family (Fig. 3). The gutter, thespace between the frames, disappears, creating a circular strip of closelyconnected frames that demonstrates the extreme emotional tension of thesituation. Here we see both the intense need for and desperate rejection ofemotional and physical connection — the various family members alternately clingto and push each other away as they feel despair, anger, frustration, and fear. Theexperience of pain in this strip is both individual and shared. The exception to thechaotic activity seems to be Seth himself, who is shown in the first and last framesas completely removed from his family's anguish — in the first frame he stares outthe car window while his mother and sisters are tense with worry, and in the lastframe he is shown alone and smiling as he plays with a toy, oblivious to theemotional scene surrounding him. However, because the gutters are removedbetween frames, creating a circular layout, Seth's frames do not close the strip —literally surrounded by the members of his family, Seth cannot be read in isolation.

Figure 3. Silent panel. Ibid. p. 17.

The format of this strip mirrors Seth's disability itself through its silence. Eventhough he is almost three, Seth has yet to speak, making gestures, sounds, andbody language important components of his vocabulary. As Susan Squierobserves, comics have enormous potential for "the full encounter with theexperience of disability," making the narrative of that experience "most fullypossible because they include its pre-verbal components: the gestural, embodiedphysicality of disabled alterity in its precise and valuable specificity" (86). Theimportance of embodiment is further enhanced by the particular communicativedifficulties of those with autism. At times, as in this strip, their story must be toldentirely through the body, multiplying emotion across the surface of both thecharacters and the strip as a whole and emphasizing the importance of empathywithout language.

Embodiment and alternative forms of communication are also highlighted in thenonfiction book The Ride Together, a memoir written by siblings Paul and JudyKarasik about their experiences with their autistic brother David. In alternatingcomics and prose sections, Judy Karasik writes descriptive chapters about eventsthat took place during her childhood while Paul Karasik draws chapters that allowus to visually delve into the characters' psyches.5 In the following scene, Paulreluctantly takes David to a Three Stooges film festival (Fig. 4). He is constantlyembarrassed by David's excited hand-flapping, vocal enthusiasm, and disregard forother audience members, and he repeatedly tells David to be quiet (125). After heis the one that is hushed by the audience, not David, Paul realizes that David'sexcitement is not only not bothering anyone, but is also part of David's enviablypowerful interaction with the film.

Figure 4. "Ahem, perhaps YOU should be quiet, young man." Paul and JudyKarasik, The Ride Together (New York: Washington Square Press, an Imprint ofSimon & Schuster, Inc., NY, 2004): 126.

In this imaginative full-page series of images, Karasik uses a number of techniquesto vividly represent the energy of David and Paul's theatre experience. Slantedframes portray the disjunction with Paul's previously composed attitude(represented by more conventional rectangular frames), and motion lines, detailedgestures, and varied character positions show the dynamic movements of theaction as Karasik blurs the distinction between viewer and viewed. In the middle ofthe page, a thrown pie literally breaks the traditionally square frame as it movesfrom the movie screen to the audience, inciting a fanciful pie fight (punctuated bysounds like "SPLAT!") that Paul enjoys just as much David.

Like Montague-Reyes's experiments that merge the experience of disability withthe form through which it is depicted, Karasik's strips are exciting in theirtranscendence of both the traditional narrative form and typical interpersonalrelationships. Paul begins to understand that for David, they are not in a theatre;they are actually participating in the film itself. By making an effort to look at thingsfrom a new perspective (which he is simultaneously allowing and encouraging hisreaders to do), Paul's character begins to see that his brother's way of experiencingthe film might actually be stimulating and exciting in a way that his owndisinterested view is not. Paul is now interacting with David in David's world, andthe resulting action provides the men with a more intense connection with the filmand with each other. In this way, The Ride Together demonstrates to its readersthat while people with disabilities may have unusual ways of interacting, this doesnot mean they are incapable of communication or enjoying close relationships, orthat their experience of the world is somehow inferior to others.

The Ride Together uses additional comics techniques to more directly convey the

intensity of external stimuli as they are experienced by many people with autism.The reader is presented with the following frame:

Figure 5. "Because information goes through their brains via nonstandardpathways, the world can appear confusing." Ibid. p. 15.

In this frame we read about the confusion of information received by the brains ofmany with autism. Simultaneously, we see distorted ratios of objects and soundssurrounding a young boy who concentrates on a clock, a focus on the orderlysystem of time-keeping that likely allows him to minimize the stimuli to which heattends. The touch of a giant hand collaged with portrayals of food and facesrepresents the disruption he feels at being questioned, while a dog sleeping in thebackground emphasizes the striking disjunction between the relative calm of theboy's external environment with his intensified and confusing internal states. Bypresenting this scene in a single frame with no internal borders, the author conveysthe flood of sensations that bombard the boy: depictions of a blazing sun, smells,and voices from both television and someone in the room compete for attentionand fill the scene, held at bay only by the boy's attention to his clock.

The importance of perspective is also demonstrated in Circling Normal, asMontague-Reyes shows Seth's mother attempting to guess his thoughts (Fig. 6). Inthis strip, Seth is older and his family has begun to recognize the limited optionsand restricting nature of the cultural scripts available for the stories of people withdisabilities. Nevertheless, Eve chooses to read her son as a person with cognitivecapacities despite his inability to describe them to her, asking her husband, "Iwonder what Seth thinks about?" Recognizing the futility of appealing to traditionaldisability narratives to provide any kind of empathetic answer to this question, sheand Manny joke about what would happen next if their lives played out according totypical media accounts of disability. Eve says that in their movie of the week she iswaiting "for the music to swell as we learn Seth's secret thoughts. We'll either havea tender moment, or we'll learn a very important life lesson." Likely referencingthe 1994 Beresford film Silent Fall, Manny responds, "A movie of the week wouldhave Seth witness a murder and only a beloved teacher would be able to reachhim. He'd overcome his autism, start talking, finger the murderer, and we'd all livehappily ever after. The End." Laughing, Eve notices Seth again and says "Still, Iwonder what he thinks about," calling his name as Seth closes his eyes and(seemingly happily) flaps his hands at some stimulus only he notices. Anyunderstanding of what he is really thinking will have to come from an empatheticattempt to see him in a fully lived context, connecting with him on his own termsand becoming receptive to forms of communication that go beyond traditionalnarrative scripts.

Figure 6. "I wonder what Seth thinks about?" Montague-Reyes p. 41.

Imagination is what comics are all about, and thus they enact the very process ofimagining other minds that I am advocating. Comics necessitate interactionsbetween reader and text that allow for fuller understanding of disabilities as theyexist in relation to society. Several scholars have noted this interactive aspect ofcomics, often described as a fragmented or unstable surface that requires an activereading experience. As Charles Hatfield puts it, "the very discontinuity of the pageurges readers to do the work of inference, to negotiate over and over the passagefrom submissive reading to active interpreting" (xiv). When we read comics, we areconstantly "observing the parts but perceiving the whole," as McCloud defines thephenomenon of closure (63). Closure is essential to comics, which present distinctmoments with gaps outside and between frames that the reader must fill byimagining the missing pieces of the narrative in what McCloud calls "a silent danceof the seen and the unseen, the visible and the invisible" (92). Connecting theexperience of reading comics to the experience of living in the world, McCloudstresses the importance of imaginative engagement and "reading" for interactionwith others, writing that "in recognizing and relating to other people, we all dependheavily on our learned ability of closure" (63). Using inference and imagination toread other minds is an ordinary and daily event for many people, but one that iscrucial to extend to those who cannot tell us their thoughts through ordinary means.

Superheroes and Supercrips

A final unique characteristic of these comic strips is their ability to subvert theclassic comic theme of the superhero and use it in new ways that promote thecause of disability rights. There has been much discussion in the last decade of the"supercrip," a common representation of a person with a disability who overcomesall of his/her "obstacles" (i.e., disabilities or differences) and achieves normal orsupernormal feats such as climbing mountains or sailing ships. The supercrip isseen by most disability rights scholars and activists as an impediment to theprocess of promoting an accurate understanding of disability for people both withand without disabilities. As mass media and disability scholar Beth Hallerdescribes,

the power of the Supercrip is a false power….These beliefs tie intosocietal attitudes. Society holds few expectations for people withdisabilities — so anything they do becomes "amazing." Any disabledperson who does any basic task of living becomes "inspirational." And anydisabled person who does more than daily living, such as competing as aprofessional golfer or playing pro baseball with one arm, becomes aSupercrip. (2000)

Disability and comics scholar José Alaniz summarizes his critique of the supercripby writing, "the stereotype of the supercrip, in the eyes of its critics, represents asort of overachieving, overdetermined self-enfreakment that distracts from the liveddaily reality of most disabled people" (305).

In his article "Supercrip: Disability and the Marvel Silver Age Superhero," Alanizexplores the origin of the supercrip concept by analyzing comic superheroes andtheir reliance on an invisible, disabled, structuring Other, without which they couldnot exist (305). Citing numerous examples from comics, Alaniz demonstrates thatcomic book superheroes must first "overcome" a disability to achieve their status.At times, according to Alaniz, "the super-power will erase the disability, banishing itto the realm of the invisible, replacing it with raw power and heroic acts of derring-

to the realm of the invisible, replacing it with raw power and heroic acts of derring-do in a hyper-masculine frame" (307). Like the supercrip, superheroes oftenovercompensate for their physical or psychological differences. Another commoncomic-book figure is the Supervillain, a character in which the superpower itselffunctions as a disability that threatens to escape the character's control, causinghim or her to be shunned or attacked by society (313). As Alaniz observes,"supervillains — following the Gothic tradition of revealing the inner disfigurementof the soul by showcasing the disfigurement or spectacular otherness of the body— simplistically reify the ablist reader's unconscious anxieties and prejudicesregarding difference (be it racial, gender-related, nationalist, class-based, orphysical)" (313).

The Ride Together and Clear Blue Water reconfigure the historically disablingrepresentation of the superhero and present an alternative to the disablingstereotype of the supercrip that is so pervasive in contemporary representations ofdisability. Both of these comics portray autism realistically; David and Seth areshown as ordinary people with lives, preferences, and various abilities as well asweaknesses. Not only do these comics dismantle the supercrip fantasy byeliminating it from their storylines, but they also allow for a new type of hero who is,in fact, a person (un)like any other. By placing "ordinary" individuals (I use scarequotes to emphasize that all so-called ordinary people are anything but) in roles theSuperhero would traditionally fill, these comic strips eliminate the need for adisabled Other to compose their heroes against. The Ride Together and Clear BlueWater present superheroes that do not hide difference, but instead embrace it.

In Clear Blue Water, superhero characters which occasionally drop into the scriptplay on comics' frequent reliance on these figures to provide external commentaryon the scene at hand. The superheroes in this comic, however, do not havesuperpowers; they have very particular (and often annoying) personality traits. Forexample, the strip's "heroes" include Right Wing, who argues an extremelyconservative viewpoint with anyone who will listen, and Easily Offended Man, whoflies in to save the day whenever anyone commits a blunder of speech by sayingsomething politically incorrect (Fig. 7).

Figure 7. "Remember that really awful picture of you?" Karen Montague-Reyes,Clear Blue Water (July 25, 2004).

Easily Offended Man calls attention to debates affecting disability, as hiscorrections are essentially matters of categorization. In this strip, for example, heinterrupts Manny, who is telling his wife she looks "retarded," with "You used the'R" word! It's 2004! You may not use that word! This is a serious breach,"instructing Manny to instead use the word "exceptional." Through the humorousmeta-commentary on both the traditional "lessons" of comic book heroes and thedebates over appropriate disability terminology, Montague-Reyes demonstratesthat one can use a different term for "retarded," but without changing people'sunderstanding of disability itself, the harmful stereotypes will persist no matter whatlanguage is used to describe them. In this case, "exceptional" is just as derogatoryas "retarded" as Manny (apparently unaware of the potential harm of thesestereotypes for his own son) insultingly associates the cognitively disabled with

stereotypes for his own son) insultingly associates the cognitively disabled withlooking "really awful" and having a "vacant stare."

The Ride Together also presents the reader with superheroes that celebratedifference. After fighting with David and being punished by his mother, Paulmentally retreats into his favorite comic, "Tales of the Bizarro World" (Fig. 8). InBizarro World, Paul becomes the Bizarro-son of Bizarro Superman and BizarroLois:

Figure 8. "Bizarro Superman and Bizarro Lois Lane are waiting…." Karasik andKarasik p. 70.

In these strips, Bizarro Paul is not constrained by social laws of order, perfection, orstability. In Bizarro World, it is actually ugliness that is good and imperfection anddifference that are privileged. The original Bizarro himself is described by comicsfan Don Markstein as a disabled figure: "'Bizarro was a pathetic, quasi-livingcreature' with 'a brain that functioned at a child's level, behind a face that lookedlike crumpled-up paper'" ("Bizarro"). The Ride Together distorts the traditionalimage of the superhero by giving value to the Bizarro World comics, where peoplewith disabilities are the norm rather than the ostracized. Simultaneously, the comicdemonstrates that behavioral norms are socially established and often arbitrary, asshown in a scene where Bizarro Paul is chastised for getting perfect grades (71).

Like Clear Blue Water, The Ride Together refigures the superhero in a commentaryon perspective. The superheroes in these comics are neither bad nor good, andalthough they do present a social commentary on certain actions, this commentarylargely serves the disability rights movement's purposes by demonstrating that ourunderstanding of people (and superheroes) is largely determined by the way theyare presented to us and not by the actual figures themselves. As Squier describesin her discussion of Karasik's Bizarro strips, "In this comic book world of opposites,where the ugly is loved, beauty is hated, and perfection is a crime, Paul sees

where the ugly is loved, beauty is hated, and perfection is a crime, Paul seeshimself through a new lens, as the one whose perception is faulty. And as readerswe are offered a similar opportunity for self-reassessment" (86). These new heroescritique both the superhero and supercrip, promoting an acceptance of differencerather than a need to compensate for it.

Conclusion

As Osteen notes in his descriptions of empathetic scholarship, understandingautism requires an appreciation for unusual and diverse modes of communication(298), a goal which will require humanities scholars to incorporate many differentforms and perspectives in studies of disability. Scholarship focusing primarily onwritten texts may overprivilege traditional discursive forms, excluding gestural,bodily, collaborative or other understudied ways of interacting with the world andwith others. Studies of comics, in contrast, emphasize the importance of multipleembodied and cognitive styles of living, by portraying, for example, the powerfulcommunicativeness of silence and other nonverbal forms of expression. Becauseof features such as the ability to depict both temporal and spatial relationshipssimultaneously, comics can powerfully convey the experience of disability in a livedcontext. The flexibility of the comic strip allows the author to demonstrate both theimpact of autism on a family and, paradoxically, the "ordinariness" of the samefamily, which has ups and downs just like any other. The families in Circling Normaland The Ride Together do not constantly revolve around Seth and David — theother children and the parents' interactions are all important to how the family getsalong in the world. Each member has their own character flaws, and each bringsimportant styles of communicating and caretaking to the family circle. Seen fromthis perspective, autism becomes part of the family's collective identity rather thansomething the family must "face." Weighty topics of debate such as whether toaccept or normalize children are directly addressed in the strips, but more oftenthese macroscopic concerns are particularized in the pleasures and trials ofeveryday life.

Comics provide a means by which to see into another's life, and therein recognizeour own. As graphic artists such as Eisner and McCloud have often noted, thecomic style itself is particularly engaging because of the level of participation itrequires from its audience. Gutters, the space between the frames of comics, invitethe reader to create the passage of time, the social dynamics, and the specificevents that have occurred between frames. Unlike text, whose symbols are usuallylimited to a single font throughout, the very lines of comics can convey quicklychanging emotions, for example, by using jagged lines to demonstrate anxiety.Through these and other techniques such as the relative fullness or sparseness ofsingle panels, thought bubbles, and sound effects, comics can affectively representthe experiences of their characters. These techniques make comics an importantform for academic studies that wish to incorporate the fullness of the experience ofpeople with autism. Comics can depict combinations of motor, sensory, emotional,social, or cognitive factors affecting a person, thereby avoiding the reduction of thatperson to a stereotype of one particular facet of his or her identity. Theincorporation of these features into the comic Circling Normal and the graphic andnarrative memoir The Ride Together make them excellent examples of empatheticrepresentations of autism: these comics reveal both the ordinariness of aberrationand the value of difference.

Works Cited

Alaniz, José. "Supercrip: Disability and the Marvel Silver Age Superhero."International Journal of Comic Art 6.2 (Fall 2004): 304-324.

Eisner, Will. Comics and Sequential Art: Principles and Practice of the World's MostPopular Art Form. Tamarac, Florida: Poorhouse Press, 2004.

Haller, Beth. "False Positive." Ragged Edge Online. (January/February 2000).<http://www.ragged-edge-mag.com/0100/c0100media.htm>.

Hatfield, Charles. Alternative Comics: An Emerging Literature. Jackson: UP ofMississippi, 2005.

Karasik, Paul and Judy Karasik. The Ride Together: A Brother and Sister's Memoirof Autism in the Family. New York: Washington Square Press, an Imprint ofSimon & Schuster, Inc., NY, 2004.

Linton, Simi. Claiming Disability: Knowledge and Identity. New York: New York UP,1998.

Markstein, Don. "Bizarro." Don Markstein's Toonopedia, 2005.<http://www.toonopedia.com/bizarro1.htm>.

McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. New York:HarperPerennial, 1993.

Montague-Reyes, Karen. Circling Normal: A Book about Autism. Kansas City:Universal Press Syndicate, 2007.

---. Clear Blue Water. Comic strip from July 25, 2004. Copyright Karen Montague-Reyes. Available at http://www.gocomics.com/clearbluewater/ andhttp://clearbluewatercomic.wordpress.com/.

"New Cartoon Strip 'Clear Blue Water' Addresses Autism." Universal PressSyndicate, 2004. <www.amuniversal.com/ups/newsrelease/?view=162>.

Osteen, Mark, ed. Autism and Representation. New York: Routledge, 2008.

Squier, Susan. "So Long As They Grow Out of It: Comics, The Discourse ofDevelopmental Normalcy, and Disability." Journal of Medical Humanities 29(2008): 71-88.

Wiater, Stanley and Stephen R. Bissette, eds. Comic Book Rebels: Conversationswith the Creators of the New Comics. New York: Donald I. Fine, 1993.

Endnotes

1. Quoted in Comic Book Rebels: Conversations with the Creators of the NewComics. Stanley Wiater and Stephen R. Bissette., eds. New York: D.I. Fine,1993.

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2. http://www.fborfw.com/features/shannon/

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3. http://www.dizabled.com

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4. In this analysis I use the titles Circling Normal and Clear Blue Waterinterchangeably. While Circling Normal reprints the strips of Clear Blue Waterunaltered, it excludes the strips of the comic that do not deal directly withautism.

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5. Although the power of the memoir results from the combination of the comicsand prose together, I will focus solely on Paul Karasik's chapters of the book,which demonstrate my claims about the potential of comics for representingdisability.

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Return to Top of PageAnimation can be the vehicle for empathy, kindness and inclusiveness, butcaretakers must contextualize the information in order to make it stick. The lesson ofthis episode? Better cartoons today can help make for a better tomorrow — but theycan’t do it alone. (*Editor’s note: Toon Boom spoke with a sociologist about genderdimorphism, or the exaggerated physical differences between men and women, inanimation. Read it here.) What cartoons do you think promote empathy in children?Let us know in the comments below!

Copyright (c) 2010 Sarah Birge

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Animation can be the vehicle for empathy, kindness and inclusiveness, but caretakers must contextualize the information in order to make it stick. The lessonof this episode? Better cartoons today can help make for a better tomorrow — but they can’t do it alone. (*Editor’s note: Toon Boom spoke with a sociologistabout gender dimorphism, or the exaggerated physical differences between men and women, in animation. Read it here.) What cartoons do you think promoteempathy in children? Let us know in the comments below!